New Year
by LokiOfSassgaard
Summary: It's 3am on New Year's, and everyone finally has to go home.


Kate watched America leave the diner. She'd said she had somewhere to be, but had left it vague and Kate hadn't pushed for more information. Wherever it was, America didn't seem too keen on getting there in a hurry. She lingered on the pavement outside, taking a long time before finally opening the portal and crashing through it.

They all had somewhere to be. Somewhere they should have been and avoided being, when the whole nightmare started. And now that it was over, excuses were running few and thin. David left, looking like he was about to pass out on his feet, with Tommy leaving just seconds later. Noh-varr hung around for another ten minutes or so, finally leaving with the excuse that he shouldn't have even been there in the first place.

No-one even knew where Loki was. No-one said anything, but Kate was pretty sure they were all in equal measures glad for it and wary.

Teddy was asleep, with his head cradled on the table and snoring quietly, while Billy stared into a cup of cold coffee. Now that they'd finally had the chance to stop, getting the energy to move at all was torment.

"Is the coffee telling you anything?" Kate asked after a long but comfortable silence.

Billy sniffed sharply and looked up, more than a little startled. "Only that sitting here much longer is going to turn into sleeping here," he said.

Kate raised an eyebrow and nodded toward Teddy. He had literal egg on his face, and something that might have been ketchup in his hair. He didn't look at all comfortable, with his face halfway on what was left of someone's breakfast, but he was clearly far too tired to care.

"Yeah," said Billy. He laughed tiredly and got to his feet. Everything about it looked painful, and when Kate got up as well, she decided that Billy looked how she felt. Exhausted, sore, and sick of magic, alternate universes, and supervillains.

"Where are you going?" Billy asked curiously.

Kate hadn't said that she'd be going anywhere, but she supposed she didn't have to. Everyone had somewhere to be, and she wasn't exactly the exception.

"To your place," she said.

Billy frowned at her like he didn't understand. Kate had always thought it was a cute look on him, whenever he made that face.

"If I send the two of you home on your own right now, you'll fall asleep halfway there and get mugged for your kidneys," she said.

"Yeah, probably," Billy said, laughing quietly. He nudged Teddy as if he didn't actually want to wake him. Of course, Teddy kept right on sleeping, so Billy tried again, this time with a little more conviction.

"Hey, babe. Come on, time to go home."

Teddy slowly looked up like a lethargic owl and looked around at the empty table.

"Where'd everybody go?" he asked.

"Home," said Kate. "We all need to go home." She checked her clutch purse for any cash, but found herself surprisingly short-sighted in that department. While Billy helped get Teddy ready to go, Kate picked up all the cash the others had scattered on the table to pay for their part and counted out enough for a generous tip before putting the rest in her purse.

She left the other two to pay for the cheque with her card. Standing up at the counter, she looked back at Billy and Teddy, unable to help the small smile as she watched them both fuss over one another. She'd seen plenty of relationships come and go, but those two were going to last. Somehow, she just knew it. She knew it because if anyone deserved it, it was them.

Even after the woman behind the counter returned Kate's credit card, she stood back and just watched them as they tried to tidy up the table and make it less of a mess. Teen superheroes ate a lot, and groups of teen superheroes made very large messes while eating a lot. Billy and Teddy both quietly stacked up the plates and bowls and pushed everything toward the centre of the table.

"Come on, you two," Kate said. She started walking toward the door, with the other two following after her.

They all stood out on the pavement for a long, quiet moment, neither saying anything. It was a dry night, but cold and overcast. Kate shivered and pulled her arms close to her body against the chill. None of them were really dressed for New Year in New York, but Billy and Teddy at least had sleeves.

"We'll have better luck catching a cab at the corner," Billy said.

"Yeah," Kate agreed.

They walked down the block to the light, all staying as close to one another as they could. The city was still awake, and while not exactly loud, not quiet either. Someone was singing in the distance, horribly off-key and getting half of the words wrong, but he sounded happy. Most people were happy on New Year.

Most people didn't know what had been narrowly avoided.

"So, what now?" Billy asked.

Kate looked out at the traffic that still prowled the streets, even at 3am.

"I don't know," she said. "I don't think there's anything now."

Billy looked over at her. "We're all still here. That's something."

"Yeah," Kate said distantly. A cab with its lamp off drove by, already full of drunken revellers. It didn't have room for three more passengers.

"It is something. But not like it was," said Kate. "America and Noh have gone home. Tommy's gone back to being Tommy, and who knows where David's gone. But can you blame them?"

"Nope," said Teddy. The other two looked at him, and he shrugged. "You guys didn't even meet the girl with bones in her hair. I am so done. Like, actually done. I know I've said it, but I mean it this time. I just want to be normal for a while. I think we all deserve that."

Kate laughed. She wasn't even sure why she was laughing, but something about what Teddy said struck her oddly funny. She almost missed a second cab driving by, but Billy saw it in time to flag it down. The three of them all crammed into the back seat, with Billy squished in the middle.

"Their place first, and then mine," Kate told the driver once they were all in.

They spent the first few minutes of the drive up to Billy's in silence, with all three of them fighting against the urge to fall asleep in a Manhattan taxi.

"What about you?" asked Billy.

It took a few seconds for Kate to realise Billy was talking to her, and what he meant.

"I don't know," she said. She looked out the window, watching everything slide past. "I think I want to get out of New York. Maybe not for good, but for now, you know? Hang up the bow and go do something else for a while."

"Like what?" Billy asked.

Kate shrugged. "I don't know. But LA seems nice."

Billy shifted and leaned against Teddy.

"Why LA?" he asked.

Kate wasn't sure. It just seemed like a thing people did. Get sick of New York, go to LA, get a whole new life.

"I don't know," she repeated. "I probably won't. It's just an idea. Something I've been thinking about for a while, but I don't think I'll ever actually do it."

Billy nodded. "I'm gonna try this normal thing," he said through a yawn. He shook his head like he was trying to wake himself up, but it didn't seem like it was very successful.

"Yeah," said Kate. "Normal. Sounds like a good idea."

They'd never be normal. None of them would. But it might be kind of fun to pretend at, one day. Not that day, but perhaps one day.


End file.
